


Second Best

by KatieWrites



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gwyneth Strand Pregnancy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29304069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieWrites/pseuds/KatieWrites
Summary: “No. No, this is not happening. They’re not having another child that they can fuck up okay? They’re not good together as parents to a little kid! She’ll walk out again and leave Dad to pick up the pieces again and then that separation will fuck the kid up and we’ll be left to pick up the pieces and hope to God that the little shit doesn’t turn out like me! Dad wouldn’t be able to go through that again!”“TK-”“I overdosed 3 times after my mom left, I can’t let this kid turn out like me because that would break both of their hearts and it would most likely be my fault! I’m the screw up, I get that! Now they have a chance to make a better one, one that isn’t broken and the fact is that they’ll love that one more because it doesn’t come with all of this baggage, it doesn’t come with triggers and addictions and mental problems."-OR- TK overhears Gwyneth tell Owen that she's pregnant and promptly has a meltdown.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand, Gwyneth Strand/Owen Strand, TK Strand & Gwyneth Strand, TK Strand & Owen Strand, TK Strand/Carlos Reyes
Comments: 20
Kudos: 288





	Second Best

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else getting Shannon vibes from 9-1-1?  
> I really hope this isn't a repeat of that.

TK loved his parents. He truly did. He absolutely loved his mom, she was his rock after 9-11 when his dad was gone from home for longer periods of time than usual. He loved his dad because he was so strong and had pulled TK literally through the shittiest part of his life. So there was no doubt he loved them. He liked having them around during quarantine...it was nice to be close with both of his parents again...sure there was the drawback of having very thin walls where he could hear them...getting it on...but it was mostly nice.

Except for now. Because...holy shit, now was just...she’s pregnant? His mom is pregnant and she’s having another kid? TK is 26 and he has another sibling on the way? A 26, probably 27 year age gap? Oh no no no….this is not happening. Sure, TK wanted a sibling when he was younger, but now? At 26? No, absolutely not! That ship has sailed!

TK couldn’t do this...nope, not tonight...this was just a bad dream...he’ll head back to Carlos’s and when he wakes up in his boyfriend’s arms in the morning, this will have all been some stress induced dream. TK quietly backed out of the house and was quick to book it back down the way he came. He didn’t want to risk the sound of his car interrupting his parents...he’d just walk...it would be fine.

Halfway into his walk, TK thought it to be a good idea to call Carlos...he should probably let the man know he would be crashing at his house. Carlos picked up on the second ring, “TK? Are you alright?”

TK laughed breathlessly, “yeah, fine...totally fine. Hey um, I’m on my way back to your place...I just-Mom and Dad are being all….gooey and I didn’t want to listen to that all night. So I can stay at your place right?”

“You can always come here, Baby. You know that. You don’t sound like you’re in your car,” Carlos trailed off.

“Yeah, well, my car was in the driveway. I didn’t want to disturb my parents so I’m walking...I’m like ten minutes away though, so it’s fine. I’ll be there soon.”

“Tyler, you live ten minutes away from my house by car….that’s a grand total of thirty minutes walking! You’re telling me that you just now called me when you’re ten minutes away?”

TK was quiet for a minute. He stopped walking with a sigh and looked up to the sky. “My head wasn’t exactly on straight Carlos...My mom...God...I just want to go to bed and imagine this as a stress induced dream, okay? Worry about me in the daylight...tonight I just want to curl up with my boyfriend and try to block out my new reality.”

“Baby-”

“Can you not,” TK cleared his throat to fix the pitch of it, “just for now...can you not call me Baby?”

Carlos was quiet for a minute, “ooh-kay,” he drew out, “only if you promise to explain later?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll figure it out yourself or you’ll get the full story by the morning.”

TK began to walk again, phone clutched to his ear. “Tiger, you’re beginning to worry me.”

TK choked down a laugh, probably worrying Carlos more, “I’m sorry...it’s just...I wasn’t expecting-it’s been twenty-six years if this...it should have happened a minimum of sixteen years ago.”

“What should have happened sixteen years ago?”

TK cleared his throat, “can we not talk about this over the phone? I’d like to have my arms around you when this all comes out.”

A small sigh escaped Carlos’s lips and TK bit his own, thinking he’d overstepped. “Of course, Tiger. I’m sorry for pushing. How far away are you now?”

“Uh...about five minutes.”

“Want some hot cocoa before bed?”

TK let out a long breath, nodding. “That would be great,” he muttered as he spotted Carlos’s home. “I’m jogging up now.”

“Let yourself in, babe.”

TK pulled his key from his pocket and hurried to let himself in….he had this buzzing energy that seemed to only grow stronger now that his boyfriend was in reach. TK could see Carlos standing in the kitchen and TK felt the buzzing eb slightly. TK wasted no time in rushing over to Carlos and wrapping his arms around his middle, burying his head in Carlos’s back. “Hey Tiger,” Carlos whispered.

TK hummed, feeling even more of the buzzing eb away as he stood there with his arms wrapped around Carlos. Carlos turned gently in TK’s hold and wrapped his arms firmly around his boyfriend. He could tell that this was more than his parents getting all lovey dovey for the night...this was more than. “I’m sorry for just coming over without telling you at first.”

Carlos pressed a kiss to TK’s head, “there’s a reason I gave you a key to my place...so you could come over whenever you wanted.”

TK let out a long breath, “but I shouldn’t just assume that you’d-”

“Tyler, I would not have given you that key if I didn’t want you to use it whenever you needed to. I want you to feel safe here...I want you to use that key when you need a place to feel safe, non judged, or loved. There is no contingency here.”

TK bit his lip, starting to vibrate in Carlos’s hold. Carlos waited him out...eventually TK would talk and Carlos could figure out how to help him deal with whatever was going on in his head. It wasn’t long before TK looked away from him, stepped out of his hold and began to pace. “I walked in and saw rose pedals, Carlos...I thought, great...I’ll grab some clothes and head back here because I honestly didn’t want to hear them have sex again. But then the lights went up so I just stayed where I was just inside the door and I heard them talking. Dad proposed again,” he scoffed. Carlos didn’t interrupt, figuring this wasn’t the end of the story. “So he proposes, Mom blatantly says no...that she didn’t want a proposal and, well, you remember when I told you about how they were giving me advice about us but it felt like it wasn’t really about us but them? Well, she was saying she had wanted clarity for herself, not a marriage proposal and then Dad was all like ‘I need clarity if you don’t want a proposal’ and they started bickering and then Mom said she was pregnant. I am 26 years old and I have a sibling on the way and I didn’t even know my mom could get pregnant at her age and that’s just being realistic. She’s fucking pregnant and I’m about to be an older brother to a literal infant and I’m fucking 26 and living with my parents who are about to have another child and I literally don’t want another sibling, this should have happened sixteen years ago, not now!”  
Slowly, Carlos’s eyes had widened. Not to be rude, but he had also thought Ms. Morgan was a little past the time to get pregnant again...and this was not at all what he thought TK would be telling him. Carlos opened and closed his mouth a few times as TK began pacing again from where he’d stopped in the middle of the rant.

“Hot cocoa,” he finally managed to ask, offering TK a mug.

TK stopped and stared at the mug. He nodded to himself, “if I wasn’t so freaked out right now, I would laugh at the fact the only thing you had to say was ‘hot cocoa’. But yes, I will take that hot cocoa.”

“Excuse me for being shocked at the fact that your mother-”

“Nope, you don’t get to say it. That makes it real and so far, it isn’t real so we’re not going there.”

“Tyler, it’s not good to think that way.”

“I wasn’t even supposed to find out yet….maybe this is all some elaborate joke for some shit I pulled that I don’t remember….but she is not pregnant, Carlos. She can’t be, okay?”

Carlos bit his lip as he looked at TK. “Her being,” at the look TK gave him, Carlos sighed, “her condition isn’t the real problem here, is it?”

TK stopped moving...that was the dead giveaway that Carlos was right. TK shook his head, “her condition is the problem! I’m 26, I shouldn’t have siblings below 10. Why now? Huh? They couldn’t have been that stupid to not use fucking protection!”

“TK, sometimes these things happen...and you know that.”

TK shook his head, feeling the tears prickle at his eyes. “No. No, this is not happening. They’re not having another child that they can fuck up okay? They’re not good together as parents to a little kid! She’ll walk out again and leave Dad to pick up the pieces again and then that separation will fuck the kid up and we’ll be left to pick up the pieces and hope to God that the little shit doesn’t turn out like me! Dad wouldn’t be able to go through that again!”

“TK-”

“I overdosed 3 times after my mom left, I can’t let this kid turn out like me because that would break both of their hearts and it would most likely be my fault! I’m the screw up, I get that! Now they have a chance to make a better one, one that isn’t broken and the fact is that they’ll love that one more because it doesn’t come with all of this baggage, it doesn’t come with triggers and addictions and mental problems. They’ll have this kid and they’ll love it and watch it grow up and love them more than they ever loved me because none of the shit that happened to me when I was a kid will happen to this one and they’ll forget about me! That kid will be ten times better than me and I would never stand a chance.”

Carlos wrapped his arms firmly around TK, shaking his head. “That is not what would happen. They will always love you because you were their first born. Tyler, you dad loves you so fucking much. He always worries about you not because of your addiction or mental health problems but because he loves you so much. That’s a parent’s job...they worry. Sure, the dynamic will change with this pregnancy but that’s because babies require a lot more attention than grown adults. Is this ideal? No...but TK, your parents won’t just forget about you or love the new kid over you. I can’t tell you they won’t split again, but if they truly care about one another and this new kid, they’d do everything in their power to stay together. It may feel like your world is falling apart right now, but I’ve got you, okay? I’ve got you and I’m not letting go.”

“I just...I don’t know what to do, ‘Los.”

Carlos licked his lips, pulling back slightly to look in TK’s eyes. “Right now, you’re going to finish your drink. Then we’ll head up to bed and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, I’ll make you breakfast and we’ll talk more about how to approach your parents and talk to them about this...because burying it is not an option. Then, if you want or need me to, I’ll go with you and we’ll sit down and hash all of this out with you mom and dad.”

TK licked his lips and gave a small nod, “okay.”


End file.
